From cf5891ec534e5418cf613cf9634160f911dadc50 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Wainer dos Santos Moschetta Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 18:00:22 -0300 Subject: docs/devel: Explain how acceptance tests can be skipped Documented under the "Acceptance tests using the Avocado Framework" section in testing.rst how environment variables are used to skip tests. Signed-off-by: Wainer dos Santos Moschetta Message-Id: <20210115210022.417996-1-wainersm@redhat.com> Reviewed-by: Thomas Huth Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth --- docs/devel/testing.rst | 62 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 62 insertions(+) (limited to 'docs/devel') diff --git a/docs/devel/testing.rst b/docs/devel/testing.rst index 0aa7a13bba..9f8b77c8ec 100644 --- a/docs/devel/testing.rst +++ b/docs/devel/testing.rst @@ -871,6 +871,68 @@ qemu_bin The exact QEMU binary to be used on QEMUMachine. +Skipping tests +-------------- +The Avocado framework provides Python decorators which allow for easily skip +tests running under certain conditions. For example, on the lack of a binary +on the test system or when the running environment is a CI system. For further +information about those decorators, please refer to:: + + https://avocado-framework.readthedocs.io/en/latest/guides/writer/chapters/writing.html#skipping-tests + +While the conditions for skipping tests are often specifics of each one, there +are recurring scenarios identified by the QEMU developers and the use of +environment variables became a kind of standard way to enable/disable tests. + +Here is a list of the most used variables: + +AVOCADO_ALLOW_LARGE_STORAGE +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +Tests which are going to fetch or produce assets considered *large* are not +going to run unless that `AVOCADO_ALLOW_LARGE_STORAGE=1` is exported on +the environment. + +The definition of *large* is a bit arbitrary here, but it usually means an +asset which occupies at least 1GB of size on disk when uncompressed. + +AVOCADO_ALLOW_UNTRUSTED_CODE +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +There are tests which will boot a kernel image or firmware that can be +considered not safe to run on the developer's workstation, thus they are +skipped by default. The definition of *not safe* is also arbitrary but +usually it means a blob which either its source or build process aren't +public available. + +You should export `AVOCADO_ALLOW_UNTRUSTED_CODE=1` on the environment in +order to allow tests which make use of those kind of assets. + +AVOCADO_TIMEOUT_EXPECTED +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The Avocado framework has a timeout mechanism which interrupts tests to avoid the +test suite of getting stuck. The timeout value can be set via test parameter or +property defined in the test class, for further details:: + + https://avocado-framework.readthedocs.io/en/latest/guides/writer/chapters/writing.html#setting-a-test-timeout + +Even though the timeout can be set by the test developer, there are some tests +that may not have a well-defined limit of time to finish under certain +conditions. For example, tests that take longer to execute when QEMU is +compiled with debug flags. Therefore, the `AVOCADO_TIMEOUT_EXPECTED` variable +has been used to determine whether those tests should run or not. + +GITLAB_CI +~~~~~~~~~ +A number of tests are flagged to not run on the GitLab CI. Usually because +they proved to the flaky or there are constraints on the CI environment which +would make them fail. If you encounter a similar situation then use that +variable as shown on the code snippet below to skip the test: + +.. code:: + + @skipIf(os.getenv('GITLAB_CI'), 'Running on GitLab') + def test(self): + do_something() + Uninstalling Avocado -------------------- -- cgit v1.2.3-55-g7522